Epilogue – Fourteen Months Later

“Can you guys please move that light this way just a little?” Victor, the music director called out, pointing towards the rose bushes. “Just another quarter of an inch… Perfect!” he shouted, clasping his hands together.

Brendan watched as everyone was repositioned to where their scene would be shot, anxiously anticipating their turn to be featured in the video. Then his gaze turned to Ava, who sat just a few feet away from him, having her hair styled, while the makeup artist applied blush to the apples of her rounded cheeks.

It still amazed him how simple, sweet Ava had taken to all of this rather easily. He chuckled to himself when he recalled the first time he had told her everything that went into a photo shoot, and how she had been beside herself until she saw the outcome.

Now, she sat in her chair like an old pro, chatting with the team as though she did this every day. A small flutter of activity caught his eye as he watched his mother-in-law and his mother scurry to the side. Reba was pointing at her prized rose bushes, excited that they had their own special lighting. When she caught him watching her, she smiled, blowing kisses his way.

And then there was his mother. She and his father had become an instrumental part of their lives now that they had returned. He was becoming closer with them every day.

“All right, places, everyone!” Victor called out.

Kevin leaned against a tree with his foot planted against the base of it. Tyler stood by a swing set chatting with Misty and Nick’s four-year-old daughter, Christina, and Dylan’s arms were crossed as he faced a young teenage girl with a set of keys in her hand.

Towards the rear of the yard on a gazebo, Stephen was dressed in a tux holding the hand of a young woman who appeared to be close in age to him, wearing a bridal gown.

“Ready?” Victor called again.

The cameras began rolling as Stephen and the young woman held hands in front of a minister who had recently took his place on a gazebo. The music played as Brendan sang the words to their latest song, All These Years. He looked to the side, seeing Ava where she now stood in the doorway behind him, fighting back tears.

He continued to watch her as he sung rather than focusing on the video shoot. There were several takes before his turn finally came, and when it did, everything seemed to flow effortlessly without any re-dos at all. It was easy, because it was his life.

Ava who had disappeared back behind the kitchen door now stepped forward, standing near where Brendan was kneeling in front of her mother’s rose bushes. He had pruning shears in his hand and was carefully clipping some roses the way his mother-in-law had taught him. It took everything within him not to laugh when he thought back on the lessons she had given him. Patiently and with love she had spent two weeks teaching him how to cut one-quarter to one-half an inch above the small bump where a leaf would meet the stem. He recalled she had called it an outward-facing bud eye.

But at Ava’s light tap on his shoulder, he forgot about his mother-in-law’s lessons and instead set the pruning shears on the ground beside him. Turning to face his wife, his hands lifted to caress her slightly round baby bump. It had just grown to the point where she was showing through her clothes.

This song and video were his way of announcing her pregnancy to the world. He rubbed his hands over her swollen stomach, and then slightly lifted her shirt to expose her beautiful belly. It was the most glorious thing he had ever seen, and he never stopped being fascinated by the life growing inside.

Ava was five months pregnant now, and they were expecting a baby girl in May, exactly a year after Keith and Roxanne’s son had been born. He sang to the little girl growing inside of his wife’s womb and then kissed her belly. The little flutter of movement had he and Ava smiling at one another, now both in tears driven by pure emotion, as the director ensured the camera was focused in on that moment.

After a small break, the video resumed, and Brendan stood to the side, watching as each of his band members re-enacted a stage in his future life. Tyler pushed Christina on the swing, who represented Brendan and Ava’s future daughter. Dylan lectured the teen version of their daughter about driving safety, and Kevin gave stern warnings to a young man about dating his daughter. Each of his band members had been made up in wardrobe and makeup to look like some future version of Brendan.

It was the end of the video that was emotionally touching to both him and Ava, as they stood to the rear of the yard, her encircled in his arms. Her parents’ back porch had been extended by fake construction to give the view of a much larger porch than they had.

Sitting on a porch swing rocking back and forth, holding hands were Misty and Nick. Her head rested on her husband’s shoulder and his left arm curled around her. They smiled and talked, as they reminisced on earlier years. They both wore grey wigs, and Nick had even donned a fake grey mustache, shaving his beard for the occasion. The two of them really looked like older versions of him and Ava. He was pleased at the job the director and the video production team had done.

Brendan knew there would be several rounds of edits before the final product was complete and ready for viewing. He also knew that he would be part of the editing process, some of his suggestions taken into consideration while still others were not. But at the end of the day, the story they would tell would be unique to his and Ava’s life and the plans they had for their future. He couldn’t be prouder of the journey he had chosen and the woman by his side to share this journey of love.